Just curious why so few people use their real names.

[IdaBriggs]

51. I have always posted under my "real" name.

I believe it keeps me honest and (hopefully) helps me to remember to talk to others with courtesy and respect. (Okay, I am not perfect! Lol!)

During the investigation of the 2004 election I received death threats, and I believe my phone was tapped -- or it may have been that of the other activists I was speaking with -- but apparently we did not warrant the "expensive" equipment, and could always hear the "click" and not-quite-an-echo.

I have posted here on DU on controversial subjects including (but not limited to): illegal drugs, domestic terrorism/guns, police violence, jury duty, welfare fraud, school shootings, "woo" science, landlord/tenant disputes, illegal foreclosure, Syria, civil/LGBT rights, Ramadan fasting, domestic violence and abortion, plus my hatred of Reagan/Bush Wars/Smarmy Lying Republicans.

I had been a member for over eight years when I started posting about "the neighbor girl" which ended up with me being called vicious and nasty name over in the Meta forum in a way which stunned me (but made for some great reading in the presentation and was very educational in the long run). My recent opinions on domestic violence victims being "idiots" if they married perpetrators had multiple posters castigating me for being "insensitive", while my own personal experiences were discounted and several told me I am just as bad as the abusers for holding such a "controlling" opinion; it still wasn't as obnoxious as the folks a few years ago who "explained" that illegal drugs are fine, any evidence of "20% of users having issues" was simply propaganda, and my calling people in the middle of custody disputes "stupid" for endangering their right to parent their children by using weed was met with some stunning levels of entitled wrath.

Ah, there were some glorious flame wars!

I don't have time to troll message boards under pseudonyms. I stick to the simple "tell the truth" and thus don't need to worry about keeping track of any lies. That doesn't mean my opinions don't change and evolve over time -- for example, my mother was AMAZINGLY STUPID when I was a teenager, but has gotten progressively smarter the older I have gotten. Now that I have children who are a lot more like me than I am always proud of, I have even found myself calling her up to apologize for some of my more "entertaining" childhood antics.

Overall, I am still a Raving Liberal, but have changed from "Pure Stubborn Independent" to "Fine, I Guess I Will Register as a Democrat, if I Have To" so maybe that is good.

I am not a national figure - just one (stubborn) woman trying her best to make this a better world. Sometimes I am wrong, but I am not ashamed of who I am or the opinions I hold.

I'm kind of stupid that way.